Pope Benedict XVI looks at the menorah gifted to him by Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo on September 2, 2010. Read More »
European Jewish Press 
EU official ’skeptical’ about Washington talks, stresses influence of ‘Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill’
European Commisioner for Trade and former Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht. BRUSSELS (EJP)—A senior European official expressed skepticism about the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington and stressed the influence of the Jewish lobby in the US. Read More »
German central bank votes to exclude disputed member
BERLIN (AFP)—The German central bank has voted to seek the dismissal of board member Thilo Sarrazin, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday, following his latest comments on immigration and Jews. Read More »
Netanyahu to Abbas: ‘you are my partner in peace’
Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak later took part in a White House dinner hosted by Barack Obama. Read More »
Jerusalem to remain ‘undivided capital of Israel’, aide to Netanyahu says
WASHINGTON (AFP)—Jerusalem should remain the “undivided capital of Israel,” an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, clarifying Israel’s position after published comments from defense minister Ehud Barak suggested division was a possibility. Read More »
German central bank mulls director’s ouster
Thilo Sarrazin roused a storm of protest with a new book, “Germany Does Itself In”, in which he claims that Muslim immigration and a high birth rate among Turkish immigrants will damage the country’s long-term economic potential. Read More »
France and Russia urge Mideast parties not to cede to provocation
“It’s time for responsibility, courage and for peace. France will do whatever it can to support Israelis and Palestinians down this road,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement. Read More »
French teacher suspended for spending too much time on Holocaust
PARIS (AFP)—A Jewish French history teacher has been suspended from her school for spending too much time teaching her pupils about the Holocaust and for organising trips to former Nazi death camps. Read More »
EU’s Catherine Ashton condemns killing of four Israelis near Kiryat Arba
BEIJING (AFP)—European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday condemned the killing of four Israelis in the West Bank, saying “enemies of peace” were trying to derail fresh Middle East peace talks. Read More »
US welcomes Middle East players as direct talks to resume
WASHINGTON (AFP)—US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks Tuesday with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, the first in a flurry of contacts with key players in the runup to new direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. Read More »
German Jews urge Bundesbank to sack Sarrazin for his racist comments
Sarrazin, 65, a former finance minister for the state of Berlin, has published a book titled “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany does away with itself) — in which he argues Muslim immigrants are undermining German society, refusing to integrate and sponging off the state, according to excerpts in the media. Read More »
Picture of the Day: Iftar dinner at the Grand Mosque of Paris
Photo: Eric Feferberg in Paris, AFP Copyright 2010 PARIS (AFP)—The Rector of the Grande Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur (R) and the president of the CRIF, the umbrella representative body for Jewish organizations in France, Richard Prasquier (L), Read More »
Elie Wiesel: no comparison between expulsion of Roma by France and deportation of Jews in WWII
“It is necessary to be careful with the language. These gypsies, one sends them to Romania, to Hungary, not to Auschwitz,” Elie Wiesel told France 3 television. Read More »
Outrage at German banker’s comments on Jews, Muslims
Thilo Sarrazin told the Welt am Sonntag weekly: “All Jews share a particular gene, Basques share particular genes, that differentiate them from others.” BERLIN (AFP)—A member of Germany’s central bank whose remarks about Jews and Muslims have prompted outrage sparked fresh protests Monday as he unveiled a new book amid calls for his resignation. Read More »
French railways to open Nazi deportation files to US
The California legislation does not single out any company by name, but the bill’s chief sponsor, Democratic lawmaker Bob Blumenfield (picture), left no doubt that the main target is the French national railway, Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, known as SNCF. Read More »
Israel’s Prime Minister spells out essentials for peace deal
JERUSALEM (AFP)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish homeland is chief among essential components for a peace deal, days ahead of renewed direct talks. Read More »
Bavaria unlikely to extradite Nazi hitman
Klaas Carel Faber, 88, was convicted in the Netherlands of murdering 22 Jews. He is high on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list of wanted Nazis, BERLIN (AFP)—Authorities in Bavaria, southern Germany, said Friday there was little chance of new Read More »
Muslims, Jews still like Obama as his approval rating slips
The poll comes with Barack Obama trying to steer a course amid a controversy over plans to build an Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Towersdestroyed in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Read More »
Russo-Israeli writer, director Efraim Sevela dies
Born in 1928 in Belarus, Efraim Sevela, whose real name was Efim Drabkin, emigrated to Israel in 1971, and subsequently lived in the United States, London and Paris, before settling in Russia in 1991. Read More »
Egon Schiele painting in Nazi row back at Vienna museum
Security guard Mario Gugler stands between Egon Schiele’s paintings “Self-portrait with chinese lantern” (L) and “Portrait of Wally” at the Leopold museum on August 23, 2010 in Vienna. Read More »
Gynaecological, surgical instruments discovered at Auschwitz
Carl Clauberg, a physician and member of the infamous elite Nazi SS experimented methods for the mass sterilization of women. Hundreds of women held prisoner at Auschwitz whom he used in pseudo-medical experiments died due to the procedures he performed. Read More »
Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws transferred to US National Archives
LOS ANGELES (AFP)—The Nuremberg Laws signed by Adolf Hitler that set the legal groundwork for the Holocaust will be transferred from California’s Huntington Museum to the Washington-based National Archives, the institutions said Wednesday. Read More »
Lithuanian Prime Minister condemns synagogue pig’s head attack
“Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius (picture) welcomes the police investigation of the anti-Semitic provocation in Kaunas and hopes it will be successful, with the perpetrators found and punished,” a government statement said. Read More »
Anne Frank’s tree falls in heavy winds
THE HAGUE (AFP)—A chestnut tree in Amsterdam that Jewish teenager Anne Frank wrote about in her World War II diary collapsed on Monday in high winds, the museum dedicated to the youthful author said. “There were several strong gusts of wind and one of these knocked over the tree,” Hans Westra, the director of Anne Frank House, told AFP. Read More »
France defies critics to push on with Roma expulsions
PARIS (AFP)—France has defied mounting international criticism of its crackdown on Roma and Gypsy minorities. Read More »
Four on trial for alleged plot to attack Bronx synagogues
U.S. Attorney Adam Hickey said on one tape James Cromitie (picture) tells the informant, Shahed Hussain, that the “best target in New York had already been hit,” an apparent reference to the World Trade Center. Read More »
Death threats against French synagogue in a letter containing bullets
Drancy was home to an internment camp set up by the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II. About 65,000 Jews were deported from there to extermination camps. Read More »
Yad Vashem to honor Polish woman and her children as Righteous Among the Nations
The Righteous Among the Nations medal. JERUSALEM (EJP)—Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, will hold on Wednesday a ceremony posthumously honoring a Polish woman, Teodora Olszewska, and her children Anna, Kazimierz and Józefa as Righteous Among the Nations. Read More »
Extension of Jewish boundary sparks crime fears in South Africa
The Greenside Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Jonannesburg. JOHANNESBURG (AFP)—An Orthodox Jewish congregation in Johannesburg is at the centre of a controversy pitting religious tradition against security fears in one of the world’s most crime-plagued cities. Read More »
Lithuania’s Jews condemn pig’s head attack at synagogue
The only synagogue of Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city. The neo-baroque synagogue was built in 1872. Before the Holocaust, the city had some 25 synagogues and prayer houses. Read More »
Cultural boycott of Israel launched by Irish artists
Irish composer Raymon Deane, founder of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC): “Culture cannot stand aloof from politics.” DUBLIN (EJP)–More than 150 Irish artists have pledged not to perform or exhibit in Israel, or to accept any funding from institutions linked to the Israeli government. Read More »
Israeli PM says he wants to surprise skeptics in peace talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Security, recognition of the national state of the Jewish people and the end of the conflict. There are the three components that will ensure us a real and lasting peace agreement. Read More »
New emissary to the ‘crypto-Jew’s in Portugal
53-year-old Rabbi Salas was born in Chile and made aliyah (immigration) to Israel in 1999. JERUSALEM (EJP)—Rabbi Elisha Salas became earlier this month Shavei Israel’s new emissary to the Bnei Anousim or crypto-Jews of North Portugal. Read More »
Israeli media reflect public mistrust in fresh peace talks
The free distribution daily Israel Hayom, which supports Netanyahu, also had reservations. JERUSALEM (AFP)—The Israeli press on Sunday greeted the announcement of renewed direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with a wave of skepticism born of the sides’ repeated failures to reach agreement in the past. Read More »
Protesters demonstrate for, against ‘Ground Zero’ mosque
“You can build a Mosque at Ground Zero when we can build a Synagogue in Mecca,” saiys a placard. NEW YORK (AFP)—Several hundred protesters staged rival demonstrations Sunday for and against plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks, some brandishing signs against Islam and others denouncing religious bigotry. Read More »
Jewish human rights group commends Israeli President for correcting Romania’s record about Holocaust
Israeli President Shimon Peres (R) during his recent visit in Bucharest. Photo: Andrei Pungovschi in Bucharest, AFP Copyright 2010 LOS ANGELES (EJP)—The Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations, Read More »
EU welcomes resumption of Israeli-Palestinian direct talks
The EU is a member of the Mideast Quartet along with the UN, Russia and the US. Picture of the Mideast Quartet representatives. Read More »
US ambassador slams central bank over ‘anti-Semitic’ Romanian coin
US ambassador in Romania, Mark Gitenstein;”I am very disappointed by the decision on the part of the National Bank of Romania to issue the coin commemorating Patriarch Miron Cristea. Read More »
Israel, Palestinians to resume direct talks
In the first direct talks in 20 months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will meet face-to-face in Washington on September 2 with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Read More »
Romania bank stands firm over ‘anti-Semitic’ coin despite Holocaust Museum accusations
As Prime Minister, Miron Cristea amended the citizenship law, thereby stripping 225,000 Jews (or 37 percent of the country’s total Jewish population) of their Romanian citizenship. Read More »
Dutch Arab group fined over Holocaust-denying cartoon
“The Holocaust is a black page in the history of humanity,” the appeals court in Arnhem in the eastern Netherlands said in a statement. “The suggestion that it may have been contrived or exaggerated by victims is extraordinarily offensive for the victims and their surviving relatives, in this case the Jews. Read More »
Art and Judaism featured at this year European Day of Jewish Culture
BRUSSELS (EJP)— “Art and Judaism” will be the subject matter of the 11th edition of the European Day of Jewish Culture, an annual event taking place on September 5 in more than 25 European countries. Every year, a special subject matter is chosen, around which activities and events are being organized. Read More »
Around 150 Jewish leaders to gather in Jerusalem for World Jewish Congress Board
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder: “Everywhere, we are witnessing concerted efforts to attack the legitimacy of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. Read More »
EU-US Summit in November in Lisbon
Herman Van Rompuy (L), the new face of the EU abroad under the Lisbon Treaty, with US President Barack Obama. BRUSSELS (EJP)— US President Barack Obama will travel to Lisbon in November for two separate summits with the EU and NATO leaders. Read More »
Vice-President Joe Biden invites Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel for lunch at White House
Elie Wiesel, an ardent supporter of Israel, met with President Barack Obama on May 4 amid deteriorating relations between the US and Israel over the issue of Israeli construction of homes in East Jerusalem. Read More »
Armed Palestinian shot inside Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv
Israeli police standing in front of the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. JERUSALEM (EJP)—A Palestinian man was shot inside the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday where he had reportedly gone to demand political asylum in Ankara. The man was brought to a Tel Aviv hospital and treated for light injuries in the leg. Read More »
Nicolas Sarkozy’s security crackdown draws racism charge
PARIS (AFP)—President Nicolas Sarkozy’s racially-tinged security crackdown has begun to cause concern even within his own right-wing camp and raise fears that he has damaged France’s international image. Read More »
Israel’s Prime Minister in Athens: direct talks with the Palestinians ‘in the very near future’
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (L) welcomes his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Athens August 16. ATHENS (EJP)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians will begin “in the very near future,” with a summit in either Washington or Cairo or “any other venue”. Read More »
Landmark anti-shooting wall razed on Jerusalem outskirts
A crane lifts a block onto a trailer, part of a concrete wall erected nine years ago as a barrier to prevent shooting attacks by Palestinians towards Gilo. Read More »
First official visit by an Israeli Prime Minister in Greece
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (L) with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in July in Jerusalem. ATHENS (EJP)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pays an official two-dfay visit to Greece on Monday, was due to meet with his Greek counterpart, George Papandreou, in the afternoon in the Greek capital. Read More »
Israeli agents working on Netanyahu’s Greece visit
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is not willing to have the strike at the foreign ministry undermine a strategic decision to strengthen ties with Greece in view of recent developments in our region. Read More »
Jewish group blasts Israel’s President over Holocaust in Romania
Israeli President Shimon Peres (R) attends a ceremony at the Holocaust Monument on August 13, 2010, in Bucharest, Romania. Peres paid tribute on August 10, to six of his country’s soldiers who were killed in helicopter crash in Romania as candles were lit in their memory at Bucharest’s main synagogue. Read More »
Mahmoud Abbas ‘very close’ to accepting direct talks with Israel, Catherine Ashton says
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. BRUSSELS (EJP)—The Palestinian Authority is very close to agreeing to direct talks with Israel and is likely to give a definitive go-ahead perhaps as early as Sunday, according to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Read More »
Barack Obama supports plan for mosque near Ground Zero
US President President Barack Obama said he supports the proposed mosque near Ground Zero during an iftar dinner at the White House Friday. WASHINGTON (EJP)—US President Barack Obama on Friday strongly defended the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero, the site where Muslim terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. Read More »
Shimon Peres honours Israeli troops in Romania death crash
BUCHAREST (ROMANIA), 08/12 (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres takes part in a ceremony on August 12, 2010, in the Coral Temple, Bucharest’s most important synagogue, to commemorate the Israeli and Romanian soldiers who died two weeks ago in a helicopter crash. Read More »
German court frees Israeli agent in discreet end to awkward case
COLOGNE (AFP)—A German court released an alleged Israeli agent Friday suspected of links to the January killing of a Hamas leader, in a discreet end to a case that threatened to sour bilateral ties. Read More »
Jewish group denounces launch of Iranian website dedicated to Holocaust denial
The Holocaust denial website is illustrated with anti-Semitic caricatures. NEW YORK (EJP)—The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has condemned an Iranian website dedicated to Holocaust denial, calling it a “virtual cesspool” of anti-Semitism. It urged the United States to publicly denounce the Iranian regime’s blatant anti-Semitism. Read More »
Mosque near Ground Zero cleared one last big hurdle, sparks US national debate
Planned Mosque near Ground Zero draws protests in New York. NEW YORK (AFP-EJP)—A plan to build a mosque and Islamic center next to Ground Zero, sparking a national debate on religious tolerance, won a crucial battle in New York last week. Read More »
Fire destroys barracks at Majdanek former Nazi death camp
WARSAW (AFP)—A fire that broke out overnight has destroyed a wooden barracks filled with the shoes of victims of the Majdanek Nazi death camp, in Lublin, eastern Poland, officials said. “More than half of the barracks was burned. Read More »
Spectacle cancelled in Tunisia after pro-Israel video sparks anger
Selim Baccouche was the target of criticism after a video showed him and other Tunisian artists performing for Israelis at a concert during a pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, in the south of Tunisia. Read More »
